


One day, for sure

by Tikkia



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Family, Just teeth rotting fluff, That's it, corvo is a sap, emily is the best, jessamine is tired, my kinks are wholesome relationships and healthy loving families, pre-game, sad murder dad except he was still happy and less murderous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 16:04:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9827906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikkia/pseuds/Tikkia
Summary: Set before the rat plague began to spread, Jessamine decides that maybe it's time for Emily to know who her dad is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> HI.
> 
> So this is the first work im publishing for the Dishonored fandom, it came from a conversation i had with ominousdeer (ominousdeer.tumblr.com) about Emily finding out who her dad was.
> 
> I hope it came out alright, pls be kind as english is not my first language and im just an old tired and bitter piece of shit who finds solace writing about loving and soft families.
> 
> If u want you can find me shitposting @ tikkia.tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy!

If someone had asked sixteen-year-old Jessamine Kaldwin if she was happy about becoming an Empress, she would have eagerly but gracefully nodded, saying that she was looking forward to dutifully rule the kingdom and to improve the lives of all the subjects of the Isles.  
Right now, with the orange light of the setting sun spreading on the reports messily scattered on her mahogany table, Jessamine wasn’t really so sure about that anymore. 

She closed her eyes and let out a yawn that turned into an undignified groan. Pushing her chair back, she stretched her arms and legs, just to bonelessly flop down again in a rather ungraceful heap.

From the corner of her office, the Empress heard a low chuckle. She promptly opened an eye to glare in its direction.  
Corvo was sitting on a chair near the door, his legs crossed and a heavy looking book in his hands.  
He put it down in his lap and raised an eyebrow.

“Is something wrong, Your Grace?”, he asked with a subtle but affectionate smirk.

She sighed and sat up a bit straighter, drumming her fingers on the dark surface of the table.  
“I’m just really tired”, she said, looking at the papers in front of her “There are over twenty reports on my desk and not a single one is good news.”

She sighed and frowned. Picking up the letter closest to her, she began reading.  
“Hear this: the City Watch is complaining about the Overseers and their recent increased activity. They want me to do something about it because, and I quote, ‘they are roaming the city like wolfhounds hunting for a prey, and frankly, their masks are extremely creepy and unsettling’. Like the High Overseer has ever listened to me”, she slumped again and threw the report on the desk.

Corvo stretched his lips in a sympathetic smile, as he rose from his chair and approached her, leaving the book behind him.  
“Or this one,” she tossed him another piece of paper, pinching the bridge of her nose. She was feeling the start of a headache and, honestly, she did not need that too.  
Corvo silently read the report, frowning slightly as his eyes darted through the lines.  
“A whole family found dead in the slums? I thought that the sanitary improvements you made were working fine”, he said, his frown deepening. “Discolored skin, traces of blood from the eyes… this looks nothing like the usual bad sanity related deaths. Maybe you should bring this to Sokolov,” he put the paper down and grabbed the hand she was offering him.  
“I know,” she nodded “I will get this to him first thing tomorrow morning.”  
“I can do it for you,” he countered, pocketing the report.  
“Thank you.”

After a moment, Jessamine squeezed his hand and looked at him with a tired smile.  
“You know, I heard that in Karnaca it’s common use amongst the rulers to hire a body double to prevent assassinations and the likes. Do you think I could hire somebody to deal with these troublesome reports instead?” she asked, letting her smile grow playful.  
Corvo got closer, bringing her hand to his lips.  
“I don’t think we’d be able to find a body double suitable enough to do the trick,” he smiled, “you’re far too beautiful.”

Jessamine scoffed, but couldn’t stop the delighted laugh that came out of her lips.

“You’re ridiculous,” she playfully kicked him in the shin, eyes glowing as she looked at his smile grow wider.  
“Come”, he hepled her up to her feet, “it’s sundown already. Let’s see if Emily managed to sneak out of her Geography lesson again”.

Jessamine chuckled at the thought.  
Just like that her heart felt lighter than it had ever had during the whole day.

 

 

* * *

* * *

 

 

“The first part of the lesson was boooring! Like really really boring, Mr. Bracklett just went on and on about the history of Dunwall. Like we haven’t been reading about that for the past two weeks,” Emily complained, shrugging down her blouse and giving it to her mother.  
Jessamine smiled gently and urged her to go on, exchanging her daughter’s blouse for the nightgown she was carrying in her hands.

“I was just about to fall asleep, but then he started talking about Karnaca. And it was sooo interesting! Also because,” she paused to yank on the nightgown, reemerging with a toothy grin “it’s Corvo’s birthplace. So it’s obvious that I want to know more about it!”

Jessamine gently pushed her daughter towards her bed. “It’s nice to see you so eager to learn new things, Emily.” 

“Of course I want to learn more about it. It’s about Corvo, after all,” said the young princess climbing into bed. Jessamine smiled fondly and caressed her cheek.

After surprisingly finding Emily sat in the library with her tutor -who complimented Lady Emily and her newfound interest in geography, they had had a nice and private dinner just the three of them.

For all the duration of the meal, Emily kept asking Corvo confirmations of what she had learned that day.

Her eyes would shone with delight every time the Lord Protector would offer some personal anecdote about life in Karnaca.

It was such a soft and domestic scene, that Jessamine had allowed herself to wallow in it for some moments, giving in to the illusion that they were just a common family, having a normal dinner at the end of the day.

She came back to reality when, after finishing dinner, Corvo had bidden both of them goodnight.  
As per usual, he had bowed and kissed her hand, lingering maybe just a moment longer than decency would allow. He had made her blush like the teenager she was when she had first met him.  
Emily, as usual, had had none of it and had thrown her arms around the Lord Protector’s neck, kissing him on the cheek and smiling when he ruffled her hair.

In the corridors of Dunwall tower, walking with her daughter towards her bedroom, Jessamine found herself thinking about Emily’s ignorance regarding her father’s identity.

She reasoned that the princess had been too young to actually understand the reasons behind the secrecy of her relationship with Corvo. Even the littlest slip would have been chaos, and the poor Serkonan already felt antagonized enough by the population of Dunwall, even without a scandal involving the fatherhood of the throne’s heir.

Emily had grown up though, and she was a clever little girl.

Jessamine saw the way she looked at Corvo when they were playing together. She could see that behind her cheerful laugh, there was such a deep longing that her heart broke every time she could spot it in her daughter’s dark eyes.

Those same eyes, so similar to Corvo’s, were now peering at her with a tad of concern.  
“Mommy? Are you alright? You seem…” she cocked her head to the right, the same way her father did when he wasn’t sure about something, “sad.”

Jessamine bowed down to kiss her forehead and moved to tuck her in bed.

“I’m not sad Emily, I was just thinking about something very important,” she said solemnly. “Something that i want to share with you, because you are an exceptional clever young lady and because it is your right to know.”  
Emily sat up straight and looked at her mother’s face, urging her to continue with a nod.  
Jessamine stared right into her daughter’s eyes and exhaled a big sigh.  
That was it.  
“Corvo Attano is your father.”  
  


For a brief, horrifying moment, Jessamine thought that the princess had gone into shock. 

After a couple of seconds though, Emily’s face split into the brightest smile the Empress had ever seen.  
She threw herself into her mother’s arms, laughing with delight.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!” she cried, “I knew that there had to be something about Corvo that made me like him so much! I mean, I would have liked him anyway, he’s so strong and gentle and overall amazing, but now he’s also my daddy! I couldn’t have asked for a better dad! And it was _so_ obvious that you two like each other, he looks at you like you’re all the stars in the sky and you look at him like he’s the Sun!” she laughed again, flashing her mother a cheeky grin.  
Jessamine chuckled and hugged her tight, feeling her heart burst with joy and love for her little girl.

She sobered up soon enough, though, and took Emily’s young, beautiful face in her hands, schooling her features into a serious expression.  
“I’m very glad that this brings you happiness, Emily, but I need you to understand that this has to stay a secret,” she said searching her daughter’s eyes.

“Most of the people here wouldn’t like it, if it was to be known that the heir to the throne was half Serkonan - _Yes_ , yes I know,” she said when Emily opened her mouth to interrupt “I know that it is nonsense and, frankly, a very dumb argument to make. But sadly, this is what most of the public thinks, and it is why I have never told you about your father until now. Do you understand, Emily?” she asked gently but with a hint of sternness.

Emily nodded slowly, thinking hard about what she had just heard.  
She looked sheepishly to the ground.  
“Can I call him daddy when it’s just the three of us?” she asked in such a small voice that Jessamine was tempted to abdicate in that exact moment, take Emily and Corvo and set sail for Pandyssia and never look back.  
  
“Of course you can, my love,” she drew her daughter in a warm embrace “Of course you can. Nothing has to change, Emily, you can still play with Corvo as much as you want, and have him teach you to sword fight with sticks when you think I can’t see you.”  
She winked and grinned at the red blotches that appeared on her girl’s cheeks.

“You just have to be careful about who could hear you when you call him that. That’s why it’s better if you hold back until it’s just the three of us. Alright?” she asked stroking her daughter’s cheek.  
Emily burrowed her face against her mother’s hand, and nodded vigorously a couple of times.

“Alright. I’ll be careful,” she promised.

“Good,” Jessamine smiled fondly, “Now get under your blanket and go to sleep: tomorrow it’s Saturday, and you know what that means,” she winked.  
Emily eagerly tapped her hands over the blankets, “We’re having all the afternoon for ourselves!” she cried in delight.

Jessamine laughed at her daughter’s cheerfulness and, with a last kiss, she  turned off the lights and opened the door.

“Goodnight Emily. I love you,” she said with a last smile for her daughter.  
“Goodnight mommy, I love you too!”

* * *

Jessamine was content.  
Some of the most troublesome reports had been done by lunch and, thanks to Corvo, she had saved herself the trip to Sokolov’s office.

She had wanted to spend her afternoon playing in the garden with her family, but the sudden rain had forced them to take cover and to continue their games inside her office.

Emily had grown quickly bored of exploring the already familiar room, and had started drawing soon enough, Corvo sitting in front of her and silently passing her crayons.

Jessamine watched them from the stuffy armchair near the window, enjoying the way Emily and Corvo sat in companionable silence.

From a near audiograph, a soft lively music was playing. Emily had found some old records that belonged to her granddad, and surprisingly enough one of them was labelled as _Serkonan songs_.

Needless to say, Emily had been delighted by her discover, and had refused to listen to anything else for the past hour.

A couple of times, Jessamine had caught Corvo moving his lips following the words of the songs filling the room, gently drumming his fingers on the floor.

She watched as Emily sat up and took the sheet she’d been drawing on, looking at it with a critic eye. She turned to Corvo and showed him her art.  
“There, now it’s finished. What do you think? Do you like it?” she pointed at the scene over his shoulder, “That’s me, you and mom, and we’re on a beach in Karnaca and we’re watching the _fiochi d’artificio_ , and here’s a pirate ship that wants to be friends with us,” she explained.

Corvo chuckled, “It’s _fuochi d’artificio_ , Emily, fireworks,” he corrected her pronunciation of the Karnacan word.  
“It’s a very beautiful drawing.”  
“Thanks daddy.”

Corvo froze, his eyes widening in disbelief and shock. He quickly glanced at Jessamine, looking for help.  
She just nodded, letting her smile grow wider as she saw understanding draw on him. She hadn’t been able to tell him about last night’s revelation, but they had extensively talked about the matter, and she knew that he didn’t have anything against it.

As long as it was only the three of them, they were safe.

Corvo cleared his throat and patted Emily’s hair, giving her back the sheet.

Jessamine thought she had seen his eyes give a watery twinkle, but the Lord Protector quickly turned towards their daughter.

“Why don’t you show it to your mother?” he asked nodding towards Jessamine.

Emily got up and jogged happily to the armchair, proudly showing her art to her mother.

“Do you think we could go to Karnaca, some day?” Emily asked hopefully.

Jessamine gave her the drawing back with an approving smile.  
“Of course we could,” she said, shooting Corvo a playful look “If your dad would be so gracious to show us around the city,” she winked.

Emily turned on her heels and ran towards him, bouncing slightly in front of her father.

“Please daddy, will you take us? Will you show us all the sneaky streets, and the cool gardens and all the strange places in Karnaca?”, she asked, her eyes glowing with excitement.

Corvo’s grin matched the one plastered on Jessamine’s face, as he gently took Emily’s tiny hands in his own.

“Of course Emily, I’d love to,” he chuckled.

Jessamine watched as their daughter let out a delighted squeal and threw her arms around Corvo’s neck, clinging to him in a tight hug.

Behind Emily’s back, the Lord Protector stared at the Empress with watery eyes and a goofy smile hidden in their girl’s shoulder.

 _I love you_ , Jessamine mouthed silently, laughing in delight when Corvo hid his blush, burrowing further into Emily’s little frame.

Yes, she thought, one day they would go to Karnaca and learn all about the place that gave her the man that both she and her daughter had come to love unconditionally.

One day, for sure.


End file.
